Film Room: Wolves Star Rudy Gobert is Changing the Narrative, One Little Thing at a Time

Minnesota Timberwolves star center Rudy Gobert was once thought to be a playoff liability during his time with the Utah Jazz.

One series in particular, the 2021 Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers, seemed to have cemented the notion in the eyes and minds of media members and NBA fans across the country. The Clippers’ stable of perimeter scorers continually forced switches onto Gobert and scored in isolation, while his Jazz teammates offered little help or resistance themselves, expecting Gobert to clean up for them like he had for years.

“He’s one of the few guys in the league that you have to game plan for their defense,” Nicolas Batum, who played on that Clippers team, told ESPN recently for a story about Gobert.

“We knew he was Plan A and B and C. So if we pretty much find a way to take him out, we would be OK. ... I was sad because he’s my friend and during the series, I knew it, but I couldn’t say it.”

When the Timberwolves acquired Gobert in July of 2022, they were surely hoping that they could dispel that playoff notion. But after a summer representing his native France, Gobert struggled with a lingering knee injury that limited his mobility and effectiveness, and fellow frontcourt star Karl-Anthony Towns missed most of the season, while Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels suffered season-ending injuries in March and April, respectively. And in the final games before the postseason, Gobert suffered a back injury that lower both the ceiling and the floor of his impact in the playoffs.

But despite all of that, the Wolves hung in there in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, giving the champs a fight that drew praise from Bruce Brown, who called those five games “our toughest series.”

Fast forward a year later. Gobert is anchoring not only the league’s top defense, but a historically great unit. He is surrounded by a group of impressive perimeter defenders in McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Anthony Edwards, all of whom are significantly better than the perimeter defenders in the Jazz rotation were during Gobert’s tenure in Salt Lake City. The combination of the wealth of defensive talent around him and renewed health that enabled him to play at a high level for 76 games (his most in a season since 2018-19) is empowering the Frenchman in every way the Utah defense didn’t. While Gobert won Defensive Player of the Year three times as a member of the Jazz, the frontrunner for the 2024 award said a few weeks ago that he feels like he is playing the best basketball of his career.

“I think so. I think when you combine everything, every aspect mentally, physically and in terms of the way I am in terms of my skillset and my experience, yeah, I definitely think so,” Gobert said after the win over the Atlanta Hawks in the penultimate regular season game.

“But for me at this point, it’s all about playoffs. It’s about winning. That’s what I’m here for and that’s why I put in all this work. I’m trying to get that championship.”

That quartet put together a wholly dominant defensive campaign, during which the Wolves owned the NBA’s best defensive rating (108.9) from wire-to-wire. And, to the surprise of the overwhelming majority of those who picked the Timberwolves to lose in short order, that dominance is translating to the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns this season had the league’s ninth-best offensive rating (118.3) and just three games with a single-game offensive rating of less than 100. The Wolves have now held them to a sub-100 offensive rating in back-to-back games, opening up a commanding 2-0 series lead as the series shifts back to the desert.

While Gobert was tremendous in Game 1, scoring 14 points and collecting 16 rebounds, his Game 2 performance showcased the biggest reasons why the Timberwolves were a defensive wrecking ball all season and why they are in the position they hold entering Game 3.

As I sat on media row taking in Game 2 writing my story, I knew that whatever I wrote in the moment wasn’t going to do Gobert’s defensive masterclass enough justice, even though his stat line of 18 points, nine rebounds and four stocks looks pretty good on its own.

So I rewatched it, focusing almost solely on Rudy’s impact on that end of the floor.

The first thing that stands out is that the three-time All-Star is, in the spirit of the NFL Draft, an every down player. Outside of transition sequences he isn’t involved in for obvious reasons, Gobert brings the same intensity, effort and attention to detail on every play. It may get lost in the shuffle of the fast-paced nature of NBA action, or because we’re all almost desensitized to the insanely high defensive level at which he plays, but it is the way Gobert leads.

“I think it’s just the mindset of being consistent, keep doing the little things regardless of who you play, the circumstances. Just being in the moment. I really try to be that every night. Sometimes things don’t go my way, sometimes things don’t go our way as a team. But I can control what I can control and I keep my poise and keep doing what I’m great at,” Gobert said after the Hawks win.

“I really think that’s leadership. I think it impacts my teammates, I think it impacts everyone around me. I also think it builds that trust when coaches, teammates, everyone knows that they can rely on me, and it’s contagious.”

By the time the clock finally read triple zero, Gobert’s consistency of excellence amounted to holding Phoenix offensive players to 8/22 shooting on shots he contested and forcing six turnovers as the primary defender in the action, according to official NBA Stats.

So, how did he do it? Let’s break it down, separated out by the three main styles of defensive coverages you will see him play in against pick-and-rolls (PnRs) and dribble hand-offs (DHOs).

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Drop Coverage

The Timberwolves primarily played drop coverage this season, which is aimed at taking away shots at the rim and in the corners, the two most efficient non-free throw shots in the game, and often works to take away the threat of the roll man, too, provided the point-of-attack defender can fight over the screen. It features the big man, in this case Gobert, sagging down anywhere from five-to-10 feet below the level of the screen. This play is a good example. Devin Booker comes around the DHO, with Gobert dropping. McDaniels fights over the top and Book doesn’t have a look at the rim because Gobert is there. The result is a Kevin Durant pull-up, in part because Rudy is still there under the rim.

(Editor’s Note: If you are reading this on Apple News, please click here so you can view embedded videos important to the analysis, and enjoy the best overall reading experience.)

The Wolves will live with a mid-range shot just about every single time. Even if Durant made 50% of his middies, that amounts to one point per possession (PPP) — an offensive rating of 100. This is where the game can become a bit of a math equation. Playing more drop coverage can bait Phoenix — a 38.2% 3-point shooting team this season, fifth in the NBA — into taking more mid-range 2s than 3s.

A Suns 3-point shot at 38.2% has an expected value of 1.146 PPP — an offensive rating of 114.6. That is objectively better than a shot from the mid-range, where Phoenix shoots 47.4% (second-best in the NBA), good for an expected value of 0.948 PPP — an offensive rating of 94.8. Of course how open a guy is matters. 100%. But it speaks to why the Suns haven’t built leads or stayed in games. They have the lowest 3-point shot rate (29.9% of total shots) of any team in the playoffs; the Wolves’ drop coverage has a lot to do with that.

Minnesota will continue to fight over the top of screens in drop coverage to welcome more mid-range 2s than 3s. The challenge for Phoenix will be to find more ways to create either shots at the rim or from 3. But if more 3s come via Gobert baiting Jusuf Nurkić, a 24.4% 3-point shooter, into taking them, that will play.

Gobert has everything you need to excel in drop coverage beyond his 7-foot-1 frame and nearly 8-foot wingspan. A+ communication skills, deep understanding of player tendencies, timing, lateral agility, and perhaps most importantly, discipline. His play in a drop, the most common style of defense in the NBA these days, is largely what has earned him six All-Defensive First Team and three All-NBA selections.

While he doesn’t get the public respect of his peers via postgame comments, he certainly gets it on the floor. Here, Eric Gordon has no interest in going to the rim with Gobert in drop.

Floaters like that are the types of shots that you may not think a ton of in the moment, but they stack up quickly with Gobert on the floor.

Beyond forcing difficult shots on the drive or preventing rim attempts altogether, Gobert is also excellent at luring PnR handlers into a false sense of security to attempt passes, and generally forcing indecision.

Gobert holding his ground in drop coverage also puts him in tremendous position to help on drivers when they snake into the paint. For most offenses, they’d be facing a point-of-attack defender of smaller or equal size as the PnR handler. But that doesn’t happen against the Timberwolves, when you have Gobert under the rim and the 7-foot McDaniels disrupting things in the middle of the floor. The combination is lethal:

The other thing that often goes unnoticed in the flow of the game is how great of a communicator Gobert is as the quarterback of the defense. Here, he makes sure Towns kicks out to the corner so that Mike Conley would be in his more standard role as a chaser on Gordon and KAT could be involved in the action up top with Beal.

Conley then switches with Towns after Beal rolls and fills to the corner, and clamps him up for a big stop in a pivotal moment. But it would’ve been a wide open corner 3 for Beal, who shot 43.8% on corner 3s this season, if not for Gobert kicking KAT out to the corner.

Then we have the play of the game a few trips later. Gobert is in a drop on the initial PnR action, which is defended perfectly by Alexander-Walker up top and Rudy on the roll. The result is Booker on an island with NAW, who has little interest in attacking the Canadian stopper, so he throws it to Beal with the McDaniels matchup. But Beal doesn’t want that smoke, either, so he gives it back to Booker, who, as we’ll get into later, is evidently terrified of Gobert. The result is Drew Eubanks catching a cooking grenade that Gobert detonates to blow up the Suns’ Game 2 chances.

That is the biggest difference between these Wolves and the Gobert Jazz teams of old. Minnesota has some dogs on the perimeter that far more often put the big man in play making situations rather than play saving ones.

How Does Phoenix Counter?

It wasn’t all gravy in Game 2, though. The Suns used a few actions to score, which they may look to get into more over the remainder of the series.

First up, Phoenix handlers very clearly identified throwing pocket passes to Nurkić as an area of opportunity. Nurkić from there consistently tried to take Gobert into the post, where he has a weight and strength advantage inside. The former Portland Trail Blazers center scored twice on moves to get the ball up on the rim quickly.

Nurkić also does a great job of making himself available to drivers via wraparound passes. Here, once he sees Gordon jump to make the pass, Nurkić gets inside positioning on the low-man (Reid) to get himself an easy score. This one is on Reid for not only giving up an offensive rebound on the free throw, but also not getting inside of Nurkić. You could argue Monte Morris is at fault here, as well, and that is true, too.

Lastly for Nurkić, he is also adept at sealing off dropping bigs when ball-handlers get into the paint, like he does in this next clip to create an open layup.

But the primary and most sustainable action that Suns Head Coach Frank Vogel turned to was Spain and some different variations of it. Spain generally involved a standard PnR up top, with a third player setting a step-up screen on the dropping big to free up the ball-handler, like Booker does:

(Whether that should’ve been a loose ball or not on Booker is pretty questionable, but the action is the action.)

Another variation of this action is the third player screening the big in order to create space for the roll man, like Booker does for Eubanks:

And finally, that third player can fake a screen on the roller, before the roller sets a screen for him.

Eubanks then smartly re-screens for Booker to create an open jumper.

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At the Level Coverage

The second defensive scheme we’ll cover is at the level coverage, a.k.a. high wall coverage, which is what we mainly saw the Wolves use to force a ton of turnovers in the 2021-22 season, highlighted by the way they slowed down Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant in the playoffs.

Instead of dropping into the paint, Gobert is up closer to where the screen is set — which is called the level of the screen. Thus, at the level. He is up in coverage to take away the pocket pass to Eubanks, who can be explosive around the rim like we saw in a Spain example.

NAW then takes care of Booker in the middle of the floor before Durant drives into two, forcing a Eubanks floater. Open or not, considering who else is on the floor, that’s a shot the Wolves will welcome. See what I mean about how Gobert’s presence and impact forces suboptimal shots that stack up over time?

Minnesota also switched up their plan of attack on KD when started cooking in the mid-range. Gobert played up at the level to force the ball out of Durant’s hands. The Wolves played this coverage most with KD as the handler.

But if you’re going to do that, you have to sprint back in case the low-man has to defend two. That is what happens here, as Towns has to choose between Nurkić and Gordon. He bets that Gobert will be able to get back and defend Nurkić. Cash it.

Next, Alexander-Walker is very clearly trying to keep Durant in the middle of the floor, not only so he can’t get to his lethal pull-ups going to his strong right hand, but also so he can send KD into Gobert at the level. Instead of navigating against Gobert, the Slim Reaper opts to reject the screen and take a very tough pull-up 3 that Alexander-Walker does an excellent job of sideview contesting.

The Timberwolves do the same thing here, but this time it’s with Booker involved in the action. This was the first sign of the Suns starting to press with the Minnesota lead building in the fourth quarter.

Again, the number of contested or ill-advised shots Gobert can force no matter the coverage he’s playing is incredible.

While the high wall has certainly worked to a degree and is necessary for throwing different looks at a talented offense, it has its drawbacks. One of them being when the handler is a 7-footer in Durant who can make passes over the top of the defense instead of a guard like Booker or Beal.

Minnesota would certainly rather have Durant throwing a pass as difficult as the first one (with KAT and McDaniels rotating to try and contest on Nurkić) than the second play, in which the 6-foot-5 is the low-man and has no chance against a wide open Eubanks in the middle of the lane.

But since Gobert is so used to playing drop coverage, he can still clean up being more decisive when it comes to choosing whether to be up or down, and that got him beat here for a Eubanks dunk:

Gobert also got caught playing up at the level against Beal, who darted past him for an easy layup.

Moving forward, the Timberwolves would be wise to play drop on Beal, especially when Alexander-Walker guards Booker and McDaniels checks Beal. But even when Ant is matched up with the ex-Washington Wizards star, Gobert proves he is more than capable of forcing tough shots out of a drop, too.

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Switching Coverage

Finally, we have the separator — switching. Phoenix thought it would be sweet forcing switches onto the Minnesota bigs from the very first possession of Game 1. It has been sweet, just not for the Suns.

The majority of the Timberwolves’ switches have come on plays in which the Suns set double drag screens or run mini Chicago action (a screen that flows into a DHO) up top — forcing Minnesota defenders to climb over multiple screens to stick with Phoenix’s ball-handlers. Here is an example of what that play set looks like. Royce O’Neale sets the first screen before Nurkić hands it to Beal, who just has no chance against Gobert.

In this clip, Gobert again switches onto Beal. The former Florida star backs it out as if he was going to attack Rudy, but instead pitches it to Booker, looking to take advantage of a slow (but smart) switch between Edwards and Conley. Instead of a mouse in the house post-up, Booker takes a semi-contested 3 that misses.

Here we have our first true double drag. Reid and Gobert do a great job of communicating on the switch, before Rudy takes care of business on the Beal isolation.

Minnesota still maintained their philosophy in double screen actions if other players were handling or if the screens were double pin-downs, instead. Durant also tried his best against Gobert, but couldn’t profit.

Towns is an underrated piece of this frame of thinking, too. In these plays he is the one switching onto Nurkić. Think about the first-round series against the Nuggets last year, when the burlier KAT checked Nikola Jokić, while Gobert played off of Aaron Gordon. It is the same idea here, except that Gobert is tasked with guarding in space; that makes sense, as KAT may honestly be a better post-up defender on a player like Nurkić and Gobert is a better bet to defend a Durant drive or isolation without fouling. Very few teams have the personnel to be able to do this.

And when Gobert wants to switch in situations he usually doesn’t, such as the single high PnR in this next play, 1) his teammates now know him well enough and 2) he trusts his teammates enough to play this out.

Beal finds Allen in the corner, but that is a capital T tough shot at the end of the shot clock from the former Duke star.

Gobert also hasn’t shied away from the task of guarding in space when there are crossmatches in transition.

(What a rebound from KAT to close that out.)

Switching hasn’t stopped Gobert from being a playmaker off the ball, either. But this time, he does so in a different way than he usually does. The three-time All-Star digs in the gap on the drive to force a steal, before getting bailed out on a hilariously bad pass.

And finally, let’s get a two-for-one switching extravaganza.

The first challenger: Bradley Beal. Does he want the smoke? If all the other clips above haven’t taught you the answer yet, hell no.

The second challenger: Devin Booker. Do I need to even ask the question?

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Individual Matchups

It is also pretty clear that two Suns players in particular are not fans of Gobert — Nurkić and Booker.

Jusuf Nurkić

These two have a long history playing against each other both stateside in the NBA as career-long rivals in the Northwest Division (Nurkić) with Denver and Portland and Gobert with Utah and Minnesota) and in Europe, where Nurkić represents his native Bosnia and Herzegovina and Gobert represents his native France.

Since Nurkić became a key member of the Blazers, the two have played each other about 20 times and you can count on one hand how many times Nurkić has gotten the better of Gobert. Rudy dominates this matchup.

Basically any time a Nurkić post-up against Gobert takes longer than two seconds, it’s not going to go well, unless he rebounds his miss and puts it in.

There is also a definite big brother/little brother dynamic at play here, as Nurkić throughout their history has often tries to get physical and aggressive in an angry way, rather than in a smart way, like we saw a few times in the clips above. Here is a perfect example.

Gobert is the first to get physical with about 19 seconds left in the half. You can tell Nurkić doesn’t like it. He swings both elbows pretty high on his way into the paint, fine with the result if it connects with Gobert. Then, he gets out of control and throws up a bad miss that only added to the momentum the Wolves had entering the half.

Devin Booker

Outside of the plays that I’ve already gone over, let’s get into a few more that show Booker’s refusal to attack Gobert.

(First of all look at Ant slide his feet in this clip.) In what was one of the only times Booker drove anywhere near Gobert all night, he kicked it out for a Gordon instead of taking a little floater he definitely has the touch to make. Clank.

Then, Book has Gobert on an island. So what does he do? Pull up for a contested 3, naturally. Clank.

Next, Booker tries to drive to the middle of the floor before calling to the bullpen for a 35-year-old Gordon with very little tread on the tires left to try and take NAW off the bounce before Josh Tiven bails him out.

(Tiven didn’t even have the angle to make this call, while crew chief Zach Zarba, widely regarded as the best referee in the league, didn’t see foul while having a perfect angle.)

And finally, my personal favorite. Booker comes around the screen, lifts his head up to take one look at Gobert standing there, and then dribbles the ball off his thigh for a turnover.

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No matter how much players want to anonymously call Rudy Gobert overrated, their actions inside the four lines continuously prove otherwise. Through all of the little (and sometimes big!) things Gobert does in each of the three coverages, he proves that he competes on every play. He may not be perfect, but he makes the right decision or the right play far more than he doesn’t, and everything he does is centered around playing the percentages and making things tougher for an offense, and it adds up in a major way over the course of a game.

He may have only been credited for being the nearest defender on 22 shots (eight misses), but he forced many more misses with the downstream effects of his rim deterrence, isolation defense, and overall gravity as a defender.

Maybe it will take Gobert doing it over and over and over and over again in a playoff series to slow down a popular team with three big time players on it that everyone picked to advance.

But the consensus in the Wolves locker room is that if three Defensive Player of the Year trophies don’t help you recognize greatness, you probably never will. But Gobert will pick up another one in the coming weeks, his fourth, tying him for the most in NBA history.

Whether he publicly earns his due from his opponents or not, performances rooted in doing all the little things at an unmatched level with a truly rare consistency he displayed in Game 2 are why he’ll have the last laugh when he sports an orange jacket on stage in Springfield, Mass. as a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.